CHAPTER NINE
Using the dummy Vicky-bot proved to be the ideal solution. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Pennington were any the wiser for the switch, and as Vicky-bot Services still took the normal payment for each cancellation, it looked to Mr. Pennington that he was getting his money's worth.
So, each morning, before the scheduled Vicky-bot arrived, Timantha – with her voice disguised as Mrs. Pennington's – would call up Vicky-bot Services and cancel the real Vicky-bot's appointment, then Brendan would POOF himself – inside the dummy Vicky-bot – outside the front door, where Mr. Pennington would let him in before he and his wife headed out for their recently added-to work.
"This is great, Timantha!" Penny exclaimed as they both were fighting off an ogre in her bedroom – which had been POOF-ed back into the medieval forest setting by Brendan, "uninterrupted warrior princess time!"
"I have to admit, this is kind of fun, having plenty of time to do this", Timantha replied as she parried a sword thrust from the ogre attacking them. She had POOF-ed herself into a similar-aged warrior princess like Penny. Now, they were fighting as a feminine 'Dynamic Duo'.
"Even more so with Mom and Dad being out for so long these days", Penny added as she used her shield to hit her attacking ogre in its face.
"Hey, watch the bruising", Brendan objected from his ogre disguise, "My face is rather tender, you know".
"Sorry, Brendan", Penny said as she lowered her shield.
Just then, Brendan lashed out with his sword, piercing Penny in the chest.
"Gotcha!" Brendan replied, "Ogres – 1, Warriors – 0. Ha-ha-ha, I win!"
Penny looked at the sword stuck in her chest, then sighed.
"Looks like I have to do the brave death scene now", she said as she then started doing a dramatic fall-to-the-knees.
"Oh-everything-is-going-dark", Penny said not too convincingly, "Let-this-be-my-epitaph: Never-trust-an-ogre-who-complains-about-facial-damage".
Penny fell backwards with her tongue poking out of her mouth. Timantha and Brendan laughed at the slapstick 'death scene'.
"Okay, so I'm not going to get any Oscars for acting anytime soon" as Penny stood up and pulled the sword out of her, "I must admit that getting stabbed by a magic sword does kind of take the risk out of close order combat".
"Well, I don't really like the idea of actually fatally stabbing you, you know", Brendan replied as he POOF-ed back to his fairy form, "but you really do know how to handle a sword and shield though".
"Just so long as I keep my guard up", Penny pointed out, "though that tactic of yours wasn't exactly fair, you know".
"Unfortunately, Honey", Timantha said as she POOF-ed back into her normal fairy form, "With this kind of fighting, 'fair' doesn't enter into it. The only rule is to win, and you do that by any means possible".
"Which probably explains why there was no population explosion in the dark ages", Brendan added. Penny ruefully nodded at that comment.
"You want to do another, Honey?" Timantha asked. Penny shook her head.
"I think I need some recuperation from my fatal injuries", Penny replied, "So I wish that this room was back to normal, my normal clothes were back on me, and that we all enjoy a chocolate milkshake".
"Said and done", Brendan said as he and his wife raised their wands. POOF.
"You know, Timantha", Penny said as she sipped her shake, "you make pretty good shakes".
"Well, when you use real sugar, that makes the difference", Timantha replied, "the banning of it was an unnecessary and stupid thing to do".
"Why was it banned?" Penny asked.
"Some people were addicted to sugar, and it had a bad effect on them", Timantha explained, "but it's not unique to sugar. Anything taken to excess will do damage, though I do have some personal experience of what too much sugar can do".
"Oh, please tell", Penny said, "you've piqued my curiosity".
Timantha POOF-ed up a learning helmet, which Penny put on her head.
"Back when I was Mom and Dad's godson, I made a number of wishes that went awry", Timantha explained, "One of the wishes I made was for the only food to be desserts. This is what happened".
Timantha activated a control on the helmet, and instantly, Penny could see what has happened. From the first couple of days of sweetness, everyone in Dimmsdale had mad excesses of sugar energy, then a few weeks later, everyone was unhealthy and obese. Penny shuddered at the near-Sun-collision as a result of that wish.
"Wow", Penny said after taking off the helmet, "I didn't see that coming".
"Neither did I, Honey", Timantha said, "back then, I didn't really see the downside of certain wishes. It all worked out, but there were some hairy moments".
"Well, I'd like to be able to make safe wishes without causing problems", Penny said, "so I'd like to wish that this helmet would provide me with all the details of your wishing when you were Timmy Turner. That way, I can learn from your experience and hopefully avoid any problems I may have from my wishes".
"I don't know whether to be insulted or happy at that wish, Honey", Timantha said as she aimed her wand at the helmet, "but there you go".
"No insult is intended, Timantha", Penny replied, "I just want to do right by you, Brendan, and everyone else".
Timantha floated down and hugged Penny. She was really proving to be an intelligent and caring girl. Exactly what she would love to have in a daughter of her own…
Timantha and Brendan watched as Penny put the helmet back on and started to see all of Timmy Turner's exploits. Both of them say Penny alternatively smile, grimace, eyes widen in shock, sigh in relief, and laugh at the various exploits that she was seeing – courtesy of the helmet.
After about an hour, Penny took off the helmet. She then looked at Timantha, who was starting to blush some.
"You certainly had an interesting time as Cosmo and Wanda's godchild", Penny said with classic understatement, "and I see what you meant by those yoo-doo dolls being so dangerous".
"Call that a lesson hard-earned", Timantha said, "Though Dad having Mom's hair was an amusing note to end that escapade on".
Penny giggled. Cosmo really did look funny as a pink-haired Elvis.
"All my wish foul-ups you now know, Penny. Some really did come close to calamity", Timantha said, "even though things worked out okay, sometimes I still shudder at some of them".
"Well, I can see that you did a number of good things as well", Penny pointed out to her, "like saving Fairy World from the pixies for example. Talk about dull-minded simpletons!"
Looking at the scene though their magical video monitor, H.P. and Sanderson shared a look. Timmy Turner had really messed up their plans – and more than once. First, with the mini-golf course bet, then Wish-Fixers. The failed plan regarding Flappy Bob, and then Timmy's sacrifice at the wedding of Big Daddy and Mama Cosmo was the last straw.
"Remind me to make sure that Timantha is given a task sufficiently humiliating once we take over", H.P. said to Sanderson.
"With pleasure, H.P.", Sanderson acknowledged.
For her part, Penny was thinking about what she saw of Timmy's experiences with the pixies. There was something familiar about the way that the pixies spoke, but she couldn't put her finger on it…
